Hypocrisy of how laws are applied is baffling

A STREET near my house is the living example of the hypocrisy of so many laws.

It's a narrow, windy, busy road which mostly has a solid line as there are blind corners and steep drop-offs.

Years ago, Translink advised buses would no longer use this route along Centenary Heights Rd in Coolum for public transport as it was too dangerous to stop.

Yet every single school day, large buses transporting our children use it as, apparently, the "too dangerous” rule didn't apply to school buses stopping along it.

It's a road where often cars park with one wheel on the footpath and the rest in the road, forcing passing traffic across the solid line to get past.

Less than a kilometre away, at Jarnahill Drive, the same practice of parking on a footpath on a wide and visible road would see you get a hefty fine.

I phoned the council to complain about cars making traffic dangerous on the road near me, but was told the footpath rule didn't apply because there was no kerbing and channelling. How does it make sense people get fined on a road that has been made safer?

It proves how much the rules we live by are mere interpretations of the people who elect to make them.

I've walked through Urban Food Street with one of the geniuses behind it, Duncan McNaught.

I was so impressed at these streets paved with food, community and goodwill that I wanted to move there.

Now, because of someone following the letter of the law, mature fruit trees have been hacked down.

Laws are there to guide us, council officers are there to enforce them, it is up to the elected officials to determine how they are administered and when exceptions should apply.

I can't understand how our councillors can think about voting to approve a development outside a town plan the local community doesn't want and yet stand by a decision to remove trees its local community does want.

We have good councillors in place and one can only hope more will be done to engage in decisions on how it will apply the letter of the law.